BRITISH companies are sitting on a huge cash pile of £318 billion, indicating an unwillingness to invest and hire due to shaky confidence in the economic recovery.

However, new research into the payment habits of larger corporations paints a rosier picture of their outlook, with an improvement in the number of late payments to small and ­medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

The mixed data on the health of UK plc comes ahead of the publication of gross domestic product (GDP) numbers later this month that will show whether the country has entered a triple-dip recession.

The GDP figures for the first quarter of 2013 will be released on April 25. Should they be negative, it would be the second quarter of contraction in a row, indicating that the UK has re-entered recession.

An analysis of Office of National Statistics (ONS) data for the final quarter of last year shows that corporations other than banks are sitting on a £318 billion-plus cash pile. In the ­previous quarter the deposits of non- financial private sector companies stood at £304 billion.

While UK plc stockpiles rather than spends cash, the economic recovery is likely to remain stunted.

According to CBI head of group economist Anna Leach, investors are waiting for a pick-up in activity before they dip into the funds.

British Retail Consortium will indicate whether retail sales were held back by the unseasonal snow

An analysis of Office of National Statistics (ONS) data for the final quarter of last year shows that corporations other than banks are sitting on a £318 billion-plus cash pile

New research from business software and IT infrastructure group Tradeshift found that the number of late payments due to SMEs, an indicator of financial stress at bigger firms, more than halved over the past 12 months.

In March, 8.79 per cent of invoices issued by SME businesses in the UK were paid late, compared with 21.4 per cent during the same period the previous year.

The research also found that the value of the average invoices sent out by SMEs has gone up 210 per cent to £3,681, showing that business is getting brisk.

The mixed picture indicates the challenge ­facing policy-makers as the new Bank of England governor prepares to take up his post this ­summer.

Two sets of data out this week will be important in shaping triple-dip recession fears, namely the estimated construction output and industrial output figures from the ONS.

Also this week, the British Retail Consortium sales monitor will give some indication as to whether retail sales were significantly held back in March by the unseasonal snowfall.